How We Boxed Out Our Old Curvy Porch Columns

And I’m calling this bad boy done. Commence the rejoicing! And to recap why we wanted to box those columns in:

the carport has 4 columns that are already chunky and square, so up until this point the house had a split personality with 3 curvy columns in the mix

boxed in square columns are more true to a mid-century ranch, so we wanted to get back to that (many other ranches in our neighborhood have ’em already)

Back to finishing things up. After getting this far within one afternoon we had high expectations for how quickly the finishing touches would go. I mean, how long could finishing one column, caulking the seams, and painting take?

Well, it didn’t help that we got derailed before even unholstering our caulk gun. When all three columns were done we stepped back and thought the de-scalloped header looked good, but a bit unsubstantial in comparison to our beefed up columns. So we picked up three more 1 x 6″ boards at Home Depot and attached them right over top the original 1 x 3″ header that we added with some wood glue, nails, and screws in a few places. You can see how it looked while it was in progress here:

But even that detour didn’t take too much longer. What did take forever? Caulking. There were so. many. seams. But we didn’t want to be anything less than thorough, since getting rain or other moisture behind the wood = bad news bears. We used this exact same method in our first house when we rebuilt the header five years ago (primed wood + paint and caulk to keep it all sealed) and it worked out great without any rotting or warping – so we wanted to make sure we were just as thorough this time around.

And since everyone asks what kind of caulk we use (that wall full of 10,000 caulk tubes can be intimidating) we like Dap window and door caulk, in the white, paintable finish (paintable is key).

Once the caulk dried, it was time to paint. Since the boards came pre-primed, all we had to do was match them to rest of the porch – and because the previous owners left us a couple gallons of house paint, there was happily no cost here. The labeled said it was “Creamy Color,” which is about the laziest paint color name I’ve ever seen, so I’m happy to discover that it’s no longer in the system.

We debated using this as an excuse to repaint all of our trim from “creamy” to white, but we weren’t ready to tackle that big of a project quite yet (there’s trim all around the house, and the back of our house is two stories high at some points).

Predictably, Sherry did the cutting in (look at her brazenly painting the bottom of that column without taping it off) and I was Roller Man.

After one coat some touch-ups, we were done. And as you may remember from the start of this post, there was some rejoicing.

Now when we roll up to our house, the outside looks a little more like us.

Getting rid of (well, concealing) the more ornate and traditional columns just makes our exterior feel crisper and more updated (not to mention it’s much more true to the columns that a mid-century ranch would actually sport). Plus those three curvy columns no longer fight with the four square ones in the carport. Hurrah.

And here’s a close-up so you can see the slight detail on each of the posts where the 1 x 8″ boards (on the front and back of the column) meet the 1 x 6″ boards that we nailed to the sides. Note: there’s a handy sketch of why square columns call for two 8″ boards and two 6″ boards in this first porch post here.

Budget-wise, our entire cost was in primed boards since we already had house paint and a tube of caulk. Here was the breakdown:

Four 1 x 3″ boards for original (thin) header: $20.50

Four 1 x 6″ boards for thicker header: $41.33

Six 1 x 6″ boards for sides of posts: $62.08

Six 1 x 8″ boards for front & back of posts: $74.12

TOTAL: $198.03

If we had known the 1 x 3s were going to be too small we wouldn’t have bought them (which means you could probably recreate this for $20 less). We could’ve bought cheaper boards for the rest of the project too – like basic whitewood – but I like working with pine because it’s noticeably smoother and straighter than the cheapest stuff. Plus, we liked skipping the priming step and this is the same stuff we used for our first house’s porch makeover five years ago (we like knowing that’s holding up well half a decade later).

Now that this project is done, we’re in the mood for more outdoor projects, so thank goodness spring has finally hit Richmond.

And we’re pretty excited that in the three springs since we moved in, the house has evolved quite a bit in the curb appeal department…

What’s on your spring to-do list? Any big projects that you’re hoping will get the ball rolling? Or are you just excited to down some lemonade and call it a day?

PS: I was this close to naming this post “Porch-a de Rossi” because it was the only porch pun I could think of. I blame my excitement for the new season of Arrested Development.

Looks good sir! I can’t wait to see what other projects you guys come up with to help inspire me to do something. If you’re up for topic suggestions, I’d love to know what you guys suggest for sprucing up small spaces (condos and such) on the cheap. My grandma’s place could use a little something and I have no creative juices flowin’ yet.

Looks great, guys! I tend to gravitate towards straight lines too. It just looks so much more updated and modern. I’ll be using your advice to update our country-looking columns at some point. Thanks for the idea!

Wow! What a difference! I suppose it also helps that you can see the porch now that that tree is trimmed up. We have so many things to do to our house. First thing up is that we need some grass (the terror/terriers have killed all of it) and the whole house needs to be power washed and the porch needs to be painted. I want to do this to our front porch too, but we have grecian round columns (yeah, I know, barf) instead of the country style, so we’re trying to figure out the best way to attach the box to the round columns.

Susanna and I enjoyed one of our spring projects this weekend scouting prospective new homes, while the hub worked on a writing piece for which he was commissioned. (We did a little celebrating on that, too!)

We also discussed DIY projects with my Mom who made these great burp cloths, bibs, and wipes-

I was thinking the same thing! Painting the brick or even covering it with a a light toned stone/faux stone material would warm up that area and accentuate the door, columns, and porch accessories. I love ranch houses but don’t get the “brick mustache” look. I grew up in Baton Rouge, LA and currently live in Mobile, AL (aka the deep south) we definitely know about mold, mildew, and the green stuff that can show up on house exteriors. It’s just a fact of life. There are easy and even “green” ways to control and clean it.

What you have is awesome but, your mustache is showing. ;)

PS I checked out THE book at my library. It is great and chockablock full of good ideas not on the blog! Congratulations, job well done.

I love the seamless look. Less is more too. You didn’t go overboard with style. I love the basic look of the new columns and what a difference it makes. Im sure your neighbors across the way are happy with what you have done!

Looks great–definitely getting a more modern vibe! (it does remind me less of my grandmother’s old house with the curvy columns gone…but I guess “Gretchen’s Grandmother’s House” probably isn’t the aesthetic you’re going for. And I can understand that ;)).

Wow, looks great! Our early-50s colonial has these garish wrought iron ‘columns’ that we’re dying to update. Sadly, I don’t think it will be as simple a process as yours. But I know the end result will be a huge improvement so I hope we can get started as soon as possible!

Megan, I have been planting flowers like crazy for the last 3 weeks, I just don’t have the patience to wait for Mother Nature anymore. My poor lavender plants froze the first night, I hope they will come back to life once it warms up.

I think it’s normal, because my husband and I are counting down the days until May 26th!! We will probably host a marathon AD-watching party for our obsessed friends. Loved the “we call onions anyongs” comment. At our house, whenever someone mentions chicken, we do one of the chicken impressions. I usually do GOB’s version. CAW-ca-ca-CAW-ca-ca-CAW…

You have such an eye for good clean design, it looks absolutely terrific (the entire front view). And to think I haven’t even weeded my front beds yet. (Yikes). Looking forward to the next thing! (I bet one project will be a nice walkway to the front door).

Well done! Even the little offset on the column boards looks like it was planned. It would be tough to align each board face. It reads match better from the street too. Now that skinny brick walk looks out of scale, even though it is hardly used.

Your redoing of the columns has been making me check out all the different porch styles in our neighborhood. It’s quite entertaining when on a dog-walk! Me & the bf have been comparing preferences and so far we are on the same page.

Interesting that you chose to remove all the shrubbery from your front yard and make it more open… Most people prefer to keep their yards more private, if possible. And a little more closed in from the street, especially with little kids running around. What was the thought process behind removing everything?? (I hope those plants didn’t just get tossed out or die…!) It looks really plain and field-ish now, since it appears you also removed shrubbery that was up close to the house?

We blogged all about the how and the why of moving those “bush fences” as we called them last year – and not to worry, all of the healthy bushes got transplanted or dug up and given to neighbors/friends who called dibs :)

Lookin’ good! I’m excited to see what other outdoor projects you have planned this spring.

We spent the weekend gardening as well, and was able to get the front of our house in shape. (Not too time consuming, because our urban location dictates we have only two planters and a small area around our tree.)

We’re throwing a party this weekend, so it was a good motivator to get things cleaned up! :-)

Looks great guys :) I did notice that your little bench fades into the background……… now that the porch is receiving a little love, do you plan to paint the bench white to make it pop against the dark brick?

Whoa baby, looking good! And um, nice punny title, ha. I like that I have a good laugh and head shake before even reading your post. :)

I love your blog because you guys show all of these types of projects where so many of us wouldn’t even think we could change the outside of our home and BAM, “easy” fix and big difference.

Also wanted to say THANK YOU for checking out my blog on Friday. (My little boy’s new toddler mohawk, ha). I’ve loved your blog and how you run your business for years so I did a little happy dance knowing you checked out my blog and it made you smile a bit. :)

And WHOA, because of your comment, you sent hundreds of your readers over and it’s always fun to meet lots of new people from around the world. YOU HAVE THE BEST READERS! My kinda people! ;)

First, Porch-a de Rossi is awesome. Second, before I can put my house on the market I have to do some front porch painting and landscaping. I kill everything. I’m just waiting on y’all to post on what greenery you’re planting this spring, and then I’ll know what to do with myself.

I’m a fairly new reader and I’ve been so inspired by your blog! For the first time I’ve purchased old wood furniture at Goodwill and thrift stores to refinish and I’ve used many of your decorating tips. (I only wish my husband was as supportive – It is scary to think what our house would look like if he was in charge of decorating, but I digress). Love the new columns! Our front porch has railings in between the columns. I like that it keeps my toddler from falling off the porch, but I love that I can see your glider, planters, etc…I bought some awesome new decorations for the porch this year, but they are sort of hidden behind the rails. Do you ever worry about Clara falling?

Thankfully Clara’s almost three and super tall, so she actually jumps off that side! I used to watch her more closely when she was smaller, but for the most part she knows stairs are for going up and down and never tried to take a dive off the edge until she was old enough to jump off herself :)

The exterior looks UH-MAZING! I love when the design history of a house and one’s personal preferences align.

My husband and I are currently under contract (fingers, eyes, toes crossed!) with a mid-century brick ranch and we can’t wait for everything to get finalized. Our brick isn’t as pretty as yours, though (think mismatched yellow/orange tones) and we’ve toyed with the idea of painting the exterior. What are your thoughts on painted brick?

Aw thanks Maureen! Here in Richmond painted brick isn’t nearly as desired as unpainted (it’s zero maintenance when it’s unpainted, and since we have green mold here when brick is painted it needs to be cleaned and repainted from time to time).

It looks so good with the new boxier columns. Love how it squares everything off.
I am knee deep in putting new patio furniture together for our newly made over patio and I can’t wait to start decorating. Paint touch ups should wrap up this week and I am so excited for the final steps. Lemonade here I come!!